Clockwork Condor

It has been a manic few weeks! I have had a lot on my plate recently, personally as well as at work, and I have had little time for blogging. I hope, however, to start making amends with immediate effect.

Since my last post, things have actually been going rather well.

Because of the tight and (virtually) impregnable deadline to deliver project Condor, we are simultaneously completing the requirements analysis, writing the Functional Specification, compiling the Application Design and even writing some of the component specifications. Yes, all at the same time. That it appears to be working is due solely to the calibre of people we have assembled on the project team. Skilled and motivated, they are working long hours, but not crazy hours and it is paying dividends.

It's worth noting, however, that we could not have assembled this team had we not had the top priority that this project commands. When the CEO says, 'get it done', people tend to make sure they get it done.

We hope to get the Functional Specification signed off this week, and the App Design won't be far behind. The developers start coding on Monday, and we need to be in Test by mid-April. It's tight, but do-able.

Me? I'm almost on top of the world. If things carry on like this, it should go like clockwork. Famous last words!! We are bound to find a major problem as soon as we get into testing, or we (don't) get full end-to-end connectivity for the first time. The biggest problem we have at the moment is two business units who can't agree on what needs to be done. A dedicated workshop is being set up on Wednesday to discuss it and reach an agreement.

But so far, we are on track.

Brainstorming and problem solving

It has long been thought that, in order to generate ideas or solve problems - indeed any activity requiring a lot of thought - that it is better to do so in a group. 'Two heads are better than one', right?

Well, yes and no.

Here is an interesting article which says that it is sometimes better to put a problem to a number of people individually first, then ask them to get together to discuss their ideas.

The researchers speculate that when a group of people receives information, the inclination is to discuss it. The more times one option is said aloud, the harder it is for individuals to recall other options.

I have an upcoming design workshop planned - the perfect opportunity to try out the theory.

Directing people

A friend once told me that to succeed as a manager, you need to command. It's not the only criterion, but being able to command both attention and respect go a long way towards getting what you want. That and providing direction. Command and Direct. That, in a nutshell, is what managers do.

Today was a case in point. The boss (who is actually pretty good at this stuff) was away today, so I was able to do some commanding and directing of my own.
During a workshop intended to clarify some concerns with our requirements specification, it became clear that we were still unable to get answers to all our questions. On a project with deadlines as tight as this one, further delays are just not good enough. So, I directed. I commanded. I said, "minute the agreements, assumptions and actions we have agreed here today, then put all the unknowns in the Functional Specification under the heading of 'Out of Scope'. Then focus all your attention on all the stuff you do know about".

Unfortunately, this has the side effect of potentially delaying things even further, because with the requirements baselined, any changes will now need to be assessed via the change control process. This might be considered an overhead, but it's the only way of ensuring that the high priority requirements are delivered on time.

Attention must be focused on what's really important.

Priority Projects

In an organisation that runs a lot of projects at any given time, it is important to prioritise those projects, so that key resources - both financial and human - can be directed to where they will have the most benefit.

As a project manager, there is nothing worse that being assigned to a large, costly project with a low priority. Everyone's focus is on the higher-priority projects, and when it comes to looking for experienced people to work on your project, they all get stolen by the PMs with the higher-priority projects. It sucks.

Condor has been good in that respect. The benefits are in the tens of millions and the CEO of the parent company himself has said "Make It So".

So when, a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that one of the people I wanted had been assigned elsewhere, I played the 'priority' card. I escalated my request to senior management, and they assessed the relative priorities of the two projects. I got the man I wanted, and he starts on Monday.

Of course, this competition does not win you a lot of friends among your peers, and it also removes one possible excuse, should you fail to deliver the project. But, to be selfish, I don't care. The important thing for me is to have the priority (important, beneficial, high-profile) projects, and to have the tools (the people, time and money) to succeed.

Getting the priority that you need gets you halfway there.

Secretarial pool for managers

I moved desks yesterday.

Actually, I was evicted from my old desk because someone else was drafted in to help out with a project in crisis. So I was asked to move to another floor entirely.

As most of you will probably know, desk moves have their pros and cons. I my case, they were mostly cons. My old desk was on the same floor as the key members of my team. My tech lead was right beside me and the lead analyst directly opposite.

Remember those old secretarial pools they used to have in the days before desktop computers? Well I am now in the secretarial pool for managers.

You see, the 9th floor is made up almost entirely of managers. There are one or two senior analysts around, but mostly it's just project and programme managers. Quite why anyone would decide to seat so many managers away from their teams is completely beyond me. Anyway, hopefully this is just temporary.

The usual up side of a desk move involves a process I call upgrading. The idea is to have the best workstation in the building - and it can take years.

Even in today’s corporate world of uniformity, there are often small differences between workstations. When a new batch of office chairs comes in because loads of new people are starting, they are very quickly swapped for old ones by the sharpest of incumbents. When one of those incumbents is asked to move desks because one of the newbies needs to sit where he is, he takes his new chair with him. See how it works? These people are upgrading. Accumulating office 'wealth'. When someone leaves the organisation, there is a swift reaction from the old hands. They immediately compare the 'wealth' of the leaver with their own, and very quickly they pounce on the optical mouse that the other guy left behind, or swap their own 1.6Ghz CPU for a 2Ghz one. That grimy keyboard with the sticky 'G' key (the result of a coffee spillage last year) is swapped for the newer, cleaner one. You get the picture.

So when I packed up my books, files and papers, loaded them onto my fancy new chair and wheeled it up to the 9th floor, I was disappointed to see a slower processor, dirtier keyboard and older mouse with no wheel!

The only up side I can see is that I have a better view out of the window. Of the building across the street.

And it's quieter. That's good.

The dreaded D word

This is undoubtedly the hardest post I have ever written. I hope I never have a reason to say that again, either.

A couple of days ago, I got an email at work. It was from Mrs Q at home.

"We need to talk..."

Now usually when she says that, I've done something wrong and she wants to lecture me about it. This time, though, my conscience clear, I called her to find out what was up.

"I only sent you that so that I would have the courage to talk to you later," she said.

Now I was really worried.

That night she asked me for a divorce.

We spent the night talking and crying. At 3:30 a.m., we sort of ran out of things to say and she fell asleep beside me. I dosed, but only fitfully until the alarm went off at 6.

I drove into work as usual, fighting the traffic on auto-pilot, on roads covered with a dusting of slushy snow. When I arrived, I parked the car, got out, walked out of the parking garage, and realised that I couldn't do it. I couldn't go into the office and pretend that all was well, that I could concentrate on Gantt charts, requirements specifications, and conversations about mips, Websphere, DB2 and DASD. I just couldn't. So I got back in my car and drove home; I had nowhere else to go.

I am still in shock. Why didn't I see that coming? What could I have done differently to prevent it from getting this far? What was I going to do now?

Fortunately, she is not being vindictive, and in the 48 hours since her bombshell landed, we have yet to utter an angry word at each other. There are still a million questions to be answered, and no doubt more tears to be shed, but our beloved son has taken the news better than we could have hoped. So far.

Tomorrow, they move out, since junior can't stay with me during the day. I plan to take one more day off to get my head straight, and I will go into the office on Saturday to clear my Inbox and catch up on what's been happening. On Monday, then, I will try to get back into the routine and carry on with my life.

Because life must, somehow, go on.

Building the project team - postscript

In my last post, I suggested never under-estimating the work to be done in a project. Ensuring I followed my own advice, I have been trying to secure the services of a dedicated configuration manager - someone who can control the hundreds of individual software components that will be written or amended (perhaps many times) over the course of this project. Someone who can ensure that every last one is correctly allocated, signed out, signed back in, and included in each of the migration packages through testing and finally into production. It's an important role.

On Monday, it was mentioned that Mike was available soon, since his contract was due to end in a couple of weeks time. I immediately asked that he be assigned to my project.

"Ah!" said the HR guy, "we should first look to see if there is a permanent staff member who could fill the role".

"Okay, like who?" I replied, knowing that no-one with a career at the company would settle for that kind of job. It's the sort of thing only contractors specialise in.

"Well, Ray could do it; he's free at the moment".

I didn't know Ray, so we arranged for me to talk to his line manager, then yesterday I finally got to speak to Ray himself.

Not only did he not have anywhere near the level of experience I wanted, but he had no knowledge of the software he would be using, and had never done that kind of thing before. He also didn't fancy the idea.

Back to the drawing board. I went back to HR guy and said "Ray doesn't want the job, and he's not qualified anyway. Can I have Mike now?"

"Okay, fill in the usual form and I'll get it sorted".

Excellent, I thought, and quickly completed the form and emailed it.

Less than an hour later, came the reply :

"Sorry, but his current assignment manager has just renewed his contract and extended his assignment until July. What would you like us to do?"

Aaaaaarrrgggghhhh!!

Condor - Building the project team

Building a project team is never a simple thing. While there may be such a thing as the perfect team for any given project, there are always some constraints. Depending on your organisation, you may have a limited pool of people to choose from. You may only know some of the people available. Some may not have all the skills you need. You may not be able to recruit externally, or you may have to choose permanent staff over more highly-skilled contractors.

But whatever the constraints imposed on you, the process shold be the same. Below, I will list some of the typical traps people (including me) can - and have - fallen into, and how to avoid falling in in the first place.

Trap No. 1 - forgetting about the obscure tasks.
First, you need to know what type of resources you need, and how many of them. And in order to establish that, you need to go back to your original estimate. The estimate should have detailed all the elements of work you estimated were needed based on the user's requirements. Okay? You should then be able to determine the skill set required for each task - do you need web developers or mainframe developers? What about database specialists, testers, defect managers, configuration managers? List them all. Be very thorough about the skills you need each person to possess. List all your requirements, and check them with someone who has managed projects in that environment before. Don't overlook anything.

Trap No.2 - under-estimating your needs.
Second, for each set of skills (Java, Oracle, CoBOL, DB2, etc. etc.) you need to work out how many people you will need to accomplish each piece of work within the time available. So if you have a high-level estimate of 70 man-days, but you only have 6 weeks - 6*5=30 days - to complete the task, you will need 70/30 = 3 people (always round up!). Now, list each role you have to fill (if you need 3 Java developers, list 3 roles). It may sound like a lot of people, but trust me, you will probably need them, and it's better to have too many people than not enough! Well, there is one exception to that rule - if you absolutely, positively canNOT go over the agreed budget, you will have to allow more time, but usually the constraint is more about time than money.

Trap No.3 - unproductive people.
Third, you need to work out when you will need them. Check your project plan, if you have one. When does the analysis work start? The development? How about the testing? For each role listed, work out when you will need to get each person to start. Factor in the need to get them through the interview process and HR checks, if you are recruiting them from outside the company. Allow for time for them to get acquainted with the project background and requirements. And make sure they all have a desk, chair, PC, network access, security pass, and anything else new people always need before they can actually do any work.

Now you can start looking at who you can get to fill each role.

If, like me, you must first look within the ranks of the company's permanent staff, fine. But make sure your needs are detailed enough. If you specify you need someone with DB2 experience, that's what you will get - someone who has done the course and once read some SQL code. If you want someone who can do database design in his sleep, say so! But make sure you have a balance. Never ask for ten experts because they will be constantly arguing with each other about the finer points of Java Beans or whether SOAP or REST is the better web services approach. You need balance! Define the structure of your team, and specify who reports to whom.

It is at this point that you are likely to fall into :

Trap No.4 - the people no-one wants.
Permanent staff who are available immediately, are probably available for a reason - they are on 'the Bench'! They have been released from a previous project because they were not sufficiently skilled, unproductive, didn't fit in, or just downright lazy. So check out every person you are offered before accepting them. Ask another project manager if he/she would work with the people you have been offered. You may hear that Bill is fine under normal circumstances, but never leaves after 5 and can't function before his third cup of morning coffee. You may hear that Judy is a fantastic coder, but is a little slow, and does not react well to pressure. Bear in mind that no-one is perfect, and everyone has his/her weaknesses. Just make sure that you can live with the ones mentioned, and can make allowances and adjustments if needed. And don't be afraid to say No to HR if someone is not suitable.

If the people you need are not available, you will have to recruit externally. It is useful to ask HR about contractors who have worked there before. Most contractors do not leave because they are not good enough; they leave because the budget dried up or the project was cancelled. If a contractor who fits the bill has worked at your organisation before for a period of more than a year, or was renewed more than once, get 'em in! Their earlier experience with your systems will avoid a lengthy learning curve that is just unproductive time.

Now you should start to see your team come together. First the requirements analysts, then the designers, the developers next and so forth.

In an ideal world you will have time to get the team together for an off-site kick-off meeting, where you can bond and establish everyone's DISC or Belbin profiles and perhaps modify the balance of your team so that you have enough but not too many of every type of person and everyone gets along. But in the real world, you need to get started yesterday, and you need these people on board NOW!

The important thing to remember in all of this is - if you don't ask, you won't receive.

Project Management is all about the people you have to do the job, and if you don't have the right people, you are creating problems for youself later.

Resource-Budget reconciliation

The initial setup phase of a project is always the most exciting; but often it is also the most frantic. I have spent most of the past week securing the right resources I need for project Condor. It has been difficult because :

• I do not know enough about the detailed work to be done to know who best to assign it to
• I do not know enough about the people who work here to know who best to assign.

As of this afternoon, however, I have sufficient candidates to get the job done. There remains the less-exciting tasks of getting some of them released from their current assignments (because Condor has priority) and filling in 20-odd resource request forms. Ugh!

The last thing I did this afternoon was to try to reconcile the people assigned with the original effort and hence the project budget. When I plot out each persons effort across the project timeline and multiply that by their man-day rate, I get a figure approximately 230 man-days over the allocated budget. Ooops. So tomorrow, in between meetings, I am going to have to go back over everything again and check that the people I have asked for, and their allocated time and cost, fit within the available budget.

What fun:-(

It occurred to me during all this that I do not have a simple tool to do all of the following:

• specify my resource requirements
• allocate people to each role across the project timeline
• calculate the effort of each person (or group of people) and the total effort and cost.

By the time I get everyone allocated, I resolve to have created a tool.

Year-end Appraisal

I came to the conclusion years ago that performance appraisals don't matter at all when it comes to getting the juicy jobs and moving up the corporate ladder, and nothing I heard yesterday during my end of year appraisal interview has changed my mind about that.

Where it does matter is in determining what you are paid.

The comments I got from my own line manager, and even some of my direct reports, was universally positive. No-one had any specific words of criticism, not even constructive ones. I honestly wish they did - it would have explained why on a scale of 1-5, I scored 3 on almost everything.

In other words, I did my job - no more, no less. And this, despite comments like "... exceeded my expectations, despite a challenging assignment...".

What galls me the most is that to qualify for a managerial bonus, you need to score an overall 4 or 5, but only a small percentage of the managerial pool can be given such a rating. In other words, you are constantly being compared to your peers and whoever plays the game the best, gets the money.

The game?

I am referring to the performance measurement 'game'. It requires intimate knowledge of the measures used by the organisation to assess it's staff, and ensuring that you identify specific, measurable and achievable goals against which you can then be measured. Then it's up to you to exceed those targets.

Without prior experience of how the system works, I had few specific objectives, and hence had insufficient evidence of what I had done well.

Lesson learned.

You can't do much without a team

Managing, by definition, is accomplishing things through other people. Managing a project requires primarily a plan and a team of people to accomplish the tasks that you have planned.

In my case, I have a plan (sort of), but no team.

You see, like any IT project I require people with specific skills and experience. All of the suitable people I have identified are currently busy with another project - most of them on the same one.

With the first deadline looming - completion of the high-level design by the end of January - I fear the project is already Amber.

Resourcing requirements

After an uneventful and relaxing couple of weeks at home, the first day back at work in the New Year was greeted with enthusiasm. I was genuinely looking forward to going back to work today, although the start was delayed somewhat.

On New Year's eve, I took the car down to a local hand wash place, and while doing the interior someone managed to dislodge the rear-view mirror from it's mounting, or rather dislodge the mounting from the windscreen. With no time left to do anything about it before this morning, I dropped into my friendly neighbourhood dealership to see if they could help.

Nope. You see the windscreens come with the mirror attachment bonded to the glass, and they have no way of re-attaching it. But they could sell me a replacement windscreen.

Oh, how I laughed!

Next stop was Autoglass. Their staff was eager to help, and in just a few minutes had the mirror bonded back in place again; and didn't charge me a penny. Thanks again.

I still managed to get into the office by 9:30, though. and started the one process we most dread on returning from holidays - clearing out the Inbox. One hundred and seven e-mails later, I was able to get some real work done.

In my absence the boss has done some high-level resource planning - numbers only - and calculated that, at peak periods, we will need 30 people working full-time on this. I now need to turn the numbers into names, get the requests in, get the people on board, briefed and give them some work to do. First task is to get an application design completed by the end of the month.

To say this project is challenging would be an understatement. But I wouldn't want it any other way.

Tomorrow I have my year-end appraisal interview.